Boddy was inspired by the Holiness Movement, and he had an intense religious experience in 1892. In 1899 his wife Mary experienced a healing from asthma and they both believed that she had a gift for healing through the laying-on of hands. In 1904 he visited Wales during the Welsh Revival and met Evan Roberts, and the following year he travelled to Oslo, where T B Barratt was leading a religious revival modelled on the events of the Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles. Barratt was invited to Boddy's church, and subsequently Boddy and his wife began to experience glossolalia.

All Saints in Monkwearmouth became a centre for British Pentecostalism, and Mary Boddy laid hands on the evangelist Smith Wigglesworth. From 1908 to 1914 Boddy hosted a series of Sunderland Conventions, which gained national press attention.

Boddy also helped to found the Pentecostal Missionary Union, with Cecil Polhill,[2] and he was a member of the Pentecostal International Advisory Council (IAC). As a Church of England minister, he tried to discourage the creation of separate denominations.

Boddy taught that the purpose of the Holy Spirit was to emphasise Christ, and that divine love was more important than speaking in tongues. He continued to have a high view of the sacraments, and defended the practice of infant baptism. He warned against exaggeration as regards healing testimonies. He also believed that the Second Coming of Christ was imminent, and he suggested that certain events during World War I were portents of Biblical prophecy. After visiting the USA, he was disturbed by an emphasis among Pentecostal churches there on money. Unlike some other Pentecostals, he supported the British war effort.

Prior to his Pentecostal experience Boddy composed a number of Roker Tracts on Holiness subjects. He also wrote several travel books on Russia, Canada, Palestine, and Egypt. From 1908-1926 he was the editor of and chief contributor to Confidence magazine.